Tom CoyneA Course Called America: Fifty States, Five Thousand Fairways, and the Search for the Great American Golf Course

Tom Coyne has delivered another fantastic read with "A Course Called America". With his easy flowing style and vivid descriptions he brings you along on another amazing adventure, but this is more than just a golf book. It's about people and priorities and remembering what's important in life. If you haven't read anything of his before, start with this book and you will quickly want to read A Course Called Ireland and Scotland...

I flipped the pages easily on this one. Once again, while the courses Coyne plays are integral to the story (and sh!t did he play a lot) it's the people that make the book hard to put down. Given all the conflict and strife over the recent year, it's heartwarming to see how our community (golf) can bring folks together from all walks of life. This book made me not only proud to be a golfer, but proud to be an American golfer.

I had read and really enjoyed all of Tom Coyne's previous books, so I was all fired up for this one. But what I discovered was that he seemed to be stretched too thin. Whereas in the Scotland and Ireland books, each course received its descriptive due, and the characters Coyne met (or just met up with) were fleshed out and made real (and interesting), in this one he seemed to be (understandably) flying through courses willy nilly and giving bare thumbnail sketches of his playing partners. The book is as whirlwind as his itinerary was, which made for too much of the mundane and not enough of the beauty for almost all of the courses. I was really disappointed, and I found myself wishing that Coyne could have just written a series of themed books about U.S. golf (one for U.S. Open courses, one for private clubs, or maybe one for each region of the country), giving himself more time to elaborate on what he saw, instead of trying to jam everything into one book.

The book provides a glimpse into the world of elite golf courses and their membership. As noted by others, it is a cursory look at a lot of courses and never invests in any of the characters or storylines. The one redeeming quality is the author connecting the trip with his dad. However, most of the book centers on courses that the average person will never play, and you when he does visit a "normal" course, it is usually accompanied by a shrug and the line "this wasn't Shinnecock." It is hard to connect or feel any real empathy for the author's plight of traveling the country and leaving his family when we see him return home between trips to leave them immediately to try out his new putter or play in his private club championship. Similarly, no on really cares how horrible it would be if he never got to Cyprus (but of course he does). It is akin to feeling bad for the millionaire who is worried he might have to settle for the yacht with only one, instead of 2, helicopter pads. Overall, some interesting tidbits about elite golf courses you will never play, but in the end, a shallow, superficial look at America and golf with continual shoutouts to his podcast friends.

I wanted to love this book and I just liked it. I am a big fan of Tom’s following him on podcasts and from his guest appearances in NLU videos so was excited about this book. It is a good read and pairing it with the Trap Draw podcast review has been fun. Tom’s audacity to play in all 50 states and “pick the truly American course” is an awesome concept but think Tom becomes prisoner of that journey and this book has so many themes considered but not examined. It reads like blogs posts compiled into a book. Which is fine but could have been so much more. Is it a golf history book- You can tell Tom almost gave himself a PHD in golf architecture but he goes into history lessons on some courses and not others. Is it a travel book- he talks about some of his challenges of road briefly and goes to all 50 states but some are just to check a box- many will be annoyed their state gets little love (personally for me Indiana and Alabama were notable gloss over states but I can pick many others the natives will be restless about). Is it family- talks about struggle of leaving his kids and is Dad but again surface level. Is it about social issues- like climate change, access, diversity, etc. he lobs these major issues out with a paragraph here or there and really does not examine them. Is it about his struggle with alcohol- mentions being sober in a very pro drinking environment- that has to be a challenge. I think the theme is “the friends you meet along the way- or golf unites people of all backgrounds”. You meet a ton of characters and Tom seems to build lasting relationships (probably could go even deeper on that) Which is what kept me reading and ultimately finished the book and why I would recommend it but probably best paired with podcast or No Laying Up videos to get the full impact of some of the places he goes.